Many people Cafe transfer: how should crowdfunding Cafe be managed?

Internet thinking has brought crowdfunding craze. The reason for the lack of healthy operation of many crowdfunding cafes is that they have too many "shareholders", chaotic management and unclear powers and responsibilities. How to manage a crowdfunding cafe "many people Cafe" 141 partners began to transfer their coffee shop, although it is an unsuccessful case, but the experience is worth thinking about.

After more than a year of noisy debate and circuitous attempts, crowdfunding Dongguan's first vote has now reached an inflection point.

While the crowdfunding model is taking root everywhere, the 141 ambitious partners in Dongguan seem to be caught in a cold puzzle.

"this day has finally come. Many cafes in Dongguan are now transferred because they are not run by anyone." Not long ago, such a sentimental Weibo appeared on Sina Weibo, a cafe of many people in Dongguan. Even the most optimistic people have to admit that "many people Cafe", the crowdfunding model that first landed in Dongguan, has now reached an inflection point after more than a year of noisy debate and circuitous attempts.

A notice of transfer

For the 141 partners of many Cafe, the fact that the cafe is seeking a transfer means disillusionment of a dream. Although deep down they did not want to go this far, most of them made what they thought was a rational choice at the shareholders' meeting last month. However, the future has not yet been finalized, and the consideration of managers is that if they can not find an ideal next job, they will not rule out the possibility of continuing to operate. But how to continue to operate, there is no final conclusion.

At one o'clock, there are only two tables of guests in the many people Cafe. Under the dim light, elegant music pervades my ears, which makes it easy for people to extricate themselves from the trivialities in front of them. Most of the time, Ye Haiyan stays here at night, dealing with the daily affairs of the cafe, although her daytime work has made her feel a little tired.

Ye Haiyan is the current manager of many people Cafe and one of the sponsors of the cafe. She works as vice president of finance and intelligence of a financial institution. Obviously, this beautiful, enthusiastic and shrewd Henan girl has devoted a lot of effort to the Cafe for many people, which is one of the reasons why she was authorized by the board of directors to manage the cafe last month.

Ye Haiyan seemed a little helpless about the transfer of the cafe. "in fact, most shareholders are not willing to transfer the coffee shop, but the fact is that the coffee shop is facing a situation of unmanned operation and management at a stage." Ye Haiyan said.

At a general meeting of shareholders held at the cafe at the end of the month, more than half of the shareholders present voted in favor of the transfer of the cafe. Since then, the "many people Cafe", which has been in operation since 2012, began to actively look for candidates. Not long after, on the Sina Weibo of "many people Cafe", a Weibo seeking transfer was also posted: "Magnum opened a coffee shop of its own in Dongguan." Don't you take action? many people transfer it, including all the equipment and items inside. Only ten thousand. "

This sad transfer notice seems to have dashed the efforts made by the 141 partners of Cafe many over the past year or so. However, coffee shop managers, including Ye Haiyan, do not agree with this view, and in their eyes, the excitement of "everyone gathering firewood" in the initial stage of the establishment of the cafe can still be seen.

With 2000 yuan, you can own a dream cafe in 2012. under the influence of this provocative slogan, the popular crowdfunding model "many people Cafe" across the country has been echoed in Dongguan. Thanks to the efforts of the then planning director Lin Jiangfeng and others, many cafes in Dongguan started trial operation in just a short month, and finally a total of 141people participated in the shares, with a total of 2000 yuan per share, raising a total of 625000 yuan. Of all the shareholders, those who hold the most shares are the most, and the least are

In the preparatory stage, the preparatory team created the cafe's Weibo, promoted the cafe project through Weibo and Douban, and made some posters and copywriters in an attempt to publicize through online irrigation. At the same time, making use of the contacts and resources of many shareholders to deal with such matters as registration, publicity and location in a very short time, its efficiency is incomparable to that of individual entrepreneurship. "at that time, everyone was enthusiastic and often got together to talk about the future development strategy of the cafe." Ye Haiyan recalled that most people could not maintain such enthusiasm and concentration for a long time, which was one of the reasons why the cafe was unmanaged.

Times have changed, and as the transfer notice on Weibo says, the day has finally come. However, Ye Haiyan firmly believes that "many people's cafes" seek to transfer "non-war crimes." "although we lost money for the whole of last year, we have been able to break even after the month, and we will be able to make a profit in about 1/3 of the month, which is not so bad at the beginning of the cafe." Ye Haiyan believes that with the further maturity of the surrounding business area, the operation of the cafe will become better and better. "the main reason for seeking transfer is that it is difficult to solve the problem of management."

Although the cafe is actively looking for a transfer, the future of the cafe, which embodies the dreams of 141 partners, is not entirely certain. "We have invested a lot of feelings in the cafe, it is not just a store that sells drinks, so we hope that future operators will continue our dream." Ye Haiyan said that if a suitable receiver cannot be found, the cafe will continue to operate, but will consider changing the original management model and structure.

Say goodbye to the shift system

In the past year, the cafe has undergone several great changes in its management model, finding a balance between fairness and efficiency, with quarrels, compromises and weary helplessness. The "many people Cafe", which did not encounter major obstacles in terms of operation, eventually had to seek transfer because of management reasons.

According to the provisions of the Company Law, the number of shareholders cannot exceed the number of shareholders when registering a limited liability company, so the cafe initially selected a shareholder as its representative to register, and established Dongguan many people Coffee Culture Communication Co., Ltd. more than 100 other partners appeared as investors and signed an agreement with this person. According to the original rules, voting follows the principle of "one person, one vote", that is, all investors have equal voting and decision-making rights.

Starting from 2012, the original Preparatory Committee was transformed into the first board of directors, which was composed of people, and a board of supervisors was also set up, thus forming a permanent management body of the "many people Cafe". "the members of the board of directors are in the form of self-recommendation or recommendation, and the board of directors is finally elected by all shareholders at the shareholders' meeting, and the chairman is also elected from several directors." Ye Haiyan was also a member of the first board of directors. according to her recollection, in order to reflect the principle of fairness, she decided to implement a shift system among directors, that is, several directors took turns as decision makers of the coffee shop every month. directly responsible for all the operation and management of the coffee shop that month.

Unexpectedly, the shift system, which seems to be stable, has many problems in the process of implementation. "what I didn't expect at the beginning was that because the composition of our board of directors was relatively complex, covering people of all ages, industries and social strata, they varied greatly in terms of social experience, income, personality and preferences, making the overall style of the cafe the same month, lack of continuity in business strategy, and conflicts with each other, and quarrels occurred from time to time." Ye Haiyan said that on the board of directors at that time, she worked in the financial industry herself, and others were college student writers, small business owners, corporate white-collar workers, and radio anchors, so everyone looked at the problem from a different point of view. and further derived completely different management techniques and styles.

Every partner of "many people Cafe" is the boss, so when it is someone's turn to be on duty, they are duty-bound to make a development plan for their one-month tenure and try to integrate their ideas into the operation of the cafe. However, due to the different ideas of each director, the focus of the cafe changes every month, and sometimes contradictory. For example, in terms of product positioning, some people think that a cup of coffee is very cheap, but another person should think it is very expensive and should sell it. This will inevitably lead to disputes, sometimes even lasting for several days or more, causing internal friction.

"not only that, each director has a different focus on the control of the taste of products and the cost of raw materials, and we are not professionals, which makes some products in the store unstable." Ye Haiyan said that the uncertainty of the management style not only makes it difficult for employees to adapt, but also difficult to form the continuity of the brand style. "our goal is to open a dream cafe, but obviously everyone's dream cafe is different." Ye Haiyan said with a wry smile.

During the shift management, the personal style of the directors will be significantly reflected in the operation of the cafe, as can be seen in the various special events held by the cafe. "due to different preferences, the activities organized are also very different, sometimes photography, book clubs, sometimes travel sharing activities, and other times financial management, the theme involves all aspects, but it is difficult to form a coffee shop brand activity. it is difficult to unite a relatively stable circle."

The board soon realized that the shift system was not a reasonable management model. Last month, the board of directors of "many people Cafe" was changed, and Lin Jiangfeng, the founder, was elected chairman of the board, and the shift system, which had been implemented for less than half a year, was abolished. At the same time, in order to reduce operating costs, the previously established position management allowances such as chairman and general manager have also been cancelled.

Combined with the problems in the operation of the cafe for several months, the board of directors proposed to hire professionals to manage it, which was naturally accepted by the majority of shareholders. However, due to the failure to recruit suitable candidates, the deputy manager has been in charge of the day-to-day operation and management of the cafe since last month. In the eyes of many partners, including Ye Haiyan, this marks a period of "anarchy" for "many people's cafes", with the deputy manager following the rules in operation and management, only because of his background as a professional barista, there has been an improvement in new product research and development.

There are a hundred cafes in the heart of a hundred people, and a large number of opinions that are difficult to unify are gathered together. In the end, they often have their own reasons, and no one can convince anyone to vote on everything. It is also easy to fall into the rut of what Tocqueville calls "majority tyranny"-fairness and efficiency, democracy and dictatorship, and the inevitable ills under the egalitarian structure have laid the groundwork for the dispute over the crowdfunding model.

From democracy to dictatorship

In April, a major event in the "many people Cafe" broke the calm of the previous period of "anarchy" and triggered a great change in the management model of the cafe.

Since last month, the day-to-day management of "many people Cafe" has been handled by an external deputy manager. For more than four months of calm, perhaps due to the decline in participation, some shareholders had a different feeling, which deviated from their original intention of joining the "many people Cafe" in the first place.

Finally, one of the 141 partners decided to come forward and break the situation. In April, a shareholder won the right to operate the coffee shop through a personal contract and began to run the "many people Cafe" on his own, taking responsibility for his own profits and losses. Immediately, all the clerks in the cafe were fired.

But just a month later, the shareholder backed out. As the clerk had been laid off at this time, the "many people Cafe" was once in crisis.

It was at this time that Ye Haiyan was appointed in the face of danger and was authorized by the board of directors to be fully responsible for the operation and management of the cafe. It was this authorization that loosened the affirmative management structure that "many people Cafe" has adhered to since its preparation, and entered a period of "limited dictatorship".

"it is never possible for one thing to be accepted by everyone. In the operation and management of enterprises, too much 'democracy' may not be conducive to the progress of things. " Ye Haiyan frankly admits that at this stage, she is the sole "dictator" in the day-to-day operation and management of "many people's cafes." "of course, important matters will be communicated with other directors, and the progress of the matter will be announced online."

In fact, since its preparation, "many people Cafe" has been touting and adhering to the equal rights management structure, with the primary purpose of fairness rather than efficiency. After the commencement of business, except in the first term of the chairman, the deadlock will be decided by the chairman, and all major decisions will be voted on at the general meeting of shareholders at other times. In other words, there is no final decision maker. "because all the partners are bosses, I used to want to listen to everyone about everything, but later I found that it didn't work." Ye Haiyan said that due to the large number of people, if everyone is consulted on everything, it will inevitably lead to a lag in the statute of limitations and slow the coffee shop's response. In addition, there are a hundred cafes in the hearts of a hundred people, and a large number of opinions that are difficult to unite are gathered together, and in the end, they often have their own reasons, and no one can persuade anyone to vote on everything. It is easy to fall into the rut of what Tocqueville calls "majority tyranny".

As a matter of fact, at the stage of the preparation of the cafe, the disadvantages of the equal rights structure have already emerged. "from site selection to decoration style, there have been a lot of different views, resulting in a more acute contradiction." Even, it was almost impossible to survive in the critical period of preparation. In Lin Jiangfeng's words at that time, "it may break up in a minute, because no one agrees with each other, because no one is the leader of each other."

Under the egalitarian framework, all partners need to be consulted frequently, which leads to high communication costs. For every shareholders' meeting, telephone notice, preparation of meeting materials and ticket printing not only cost a high cost, but also need special personnel to be responsible for it.

From the internal soft equipment of "many people Cafe", we can also see the traces of all kinds of opinions game. "it is not difficult to see that we are 'full' here because everyone wants to add the factors they like." Ye Haiyan was directly in charge of the soft installation in the cafe, but the final soft effect was not what she wanted, because she "had to make some compromises and compromises."

After Ye Haiyan took over the day-to-day management of the cafe, other partners also raised questions, especially on the transfer fee and mode of transfer of the cafe. But she believes that only a "limited dictatorship" can keep the cafe going. "now I only value the opinions and interests of the majority of people and will not pursue everything." In the past few months, meaningless quarrels between partners have been significantly reduced, which makes Ye Haiyan more confident about the future path of the cafe.

Shape the soul character

The key to the success of a project lies in the soul. The difficulty of the crowdfunding model is that among a large number of strangers, it is difficult to find a soul who can be trusted by most people.

After the Spring Festival this year, it soon entered a continuous rainy day. Due to holidays and weather, many people Cafe once again suffered losses for two consecutive months. However, this situation has been reversed in this month. With the recovery of management, Ye Haiyan has more full confidence in the future of the cafe. "even if we can't find the right person to pick up the plate, I believe the cafe can do better and better."

In Ye Haiyan's mind, she already has a preliminary plan. "if we continue to do so, we must change the previous management model and structure, which may redistribute shares or introduce new major shareholders, with major shareholders leading the management and minority shareholders not participating in decision-making." Ye Haiyan believes that the management structure of joint-stock companies has been verified over time, and what "a lot of people cafes" need to do now is to return.

At present, Ye Haiyan is most concerned about how to find or shape the soul of the crowdfunding project "Cafe of many people." "there are many crowdfunding projects across the country, and we have traveled through several cities. In fact, most of the problems encountered are similar. The key lies in the lack of a soul to promote them." Ye Haiyan explained that the problems encountered in the management of the crowdfunding model have something to do with Chinese traditional culture and national conditions. "there has always been no concept of partner in China. For thousands of years, there have been clear barriers to who is the boss and who is the employee. On the contrary, the equal rights management structure will bring trouble. "

At the beginning of the opening of "many people Cafe", many people foundations were set up and some public welfare activities such as donating books to the school were done. "I had hoped that a group of people would get together to do something, but it is actually very difficult to implement because it requires a soul to continue to push." Ye Haiyan thinks so.

141 partners, most of whom are strangers, are difficult to meet face-to-face on a large scale, so it is difficult to have a soul who can be recognized and trusted by most people. In the view of management scientists, the advantage of the crowdfunding model is that it can get more help in the preparation and start-up stage, and can put a thing on track with faster and lower risk, but when the enterprise enters the normal management stage, we still need a "parent". This "parent" is the soul in Ye Haiyan's mouth.

Now, Ye Haiyan temporarily plays the role of the soul of "many people Cafe". After she took over the management of the cafe, she also began to hold activities such as shareholders' birthday parties, hoping to enhance understanding and trust among shareholders and to better shape a soul.

Ye Haiyan is not pessimistic about the future. "the problems that should appear in the crowdfunding model have basically been exposed and have begun to precipitate and grow. If the next step goes well,'a lot of people Cafe 'will still become a successful case."